Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 1.4% After Dividend Announcement

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price shot up 1.4% on Tuesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $384.42 and last traded at $385.54. 7,673,573 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 22,951,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $380.16.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $413.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $421.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Silver Oak Wealth Advisors Services LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $607,000. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $28,240,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $4,050,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 78,825 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,225,000 after buying an additional 7,514 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $3,433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.